Apparatus for laying down articles on a conveyor

ABSTRACT

This apparatus for depositing separately on a conveyor a plurality of articles having a predetermined and same height and a greater diameter at the top than at the base, comprises a descending conduit in which the articles are stacked; this conduit has a lateral aperture through which projects only the thread portion of a screw revolving about an axis parallel to the conduit, the pitch of said screw increasing in the downward direction from a value inferior to the predetermined height of said articles to a value greater than said height.

United States Patent Beauchemin Sept. 26, 1972 [54] APPARATUS FOR LAYING DOWN ARTICLES ON A CONVEYOR inventor:

[72] Marcel Beauchemin, Le

France Havre,

[73] Assignee: Sidel, Societe Anonyme, Le Havre,

France Filed: June 7, 1971 Appl. No.: 150,662

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data July 29, 1970 France ..7027975 Int. Cl. ..B65g 47/26, 365g 59/06 Field of Search...198/22 R, 22 B, 26, 34 A; 104, 198/214; 221/75; 214/8.5 K

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1958 Johnson ..l98/104 US. Cl ..l98/26, 198/34 A, l98/l04,

Primary Examiner-Edward A. Sroka Attorney-Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato [57] ABSTRACT 3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures APPARATUS FOR LAYING DOWN ARTICLES ON A CONVEYOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to apparatus for laying down on a conveyor a plurality of articles of predetermined height, which constitute a pile guided in a descending conduit terminating just above said conveyor.

An apparatus of this type is necessary for solving the following problems:

I The articles are delivered at a given point of a chain at an irregular rate, and the regularity of this rate must be restored;

II It is desired to deliver articles at a predetermined relative spacing to a conveyor;

Ill It is contemplated to regulate the delivery of articles at their point of arrival while avoiding the accumulation thereof at any point of the chain.

An apparatus of the above-defined type is already known wherein the conduit has a lateral aperture permitting the passage of the thread of a screw rotatably mounted about an axis parallel to the conduit axis and having a pitch increasing in the downward direction. However, since this known apparatus is intended for handling piles of cylindrical boxes or articles, it comprises at the inlet end of said conduit additional means for creating between each box penetrating into the conduit and the preceding box a V-shaped. slot openingtowards the screw thread to permit the engagement of said thread between the boxes; consequently, the only function of the increasing pitch thread of this known apparatus is to gradually increase, towards the conduit outlet, the width of the gap created between any pair of successive boxes, which had been formed by the aforesaid means at the inlet end of the conduit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The apparatus according to the invention comprises likewise a descending conduit provided with a lateral aperture through which the thread of a screw is adapted to project into said conduit, said screw being rotatably mounted about a shaft parallel to said conduit and having a pitch increasing in the downward direction. However, the apparatus according to the present invention is specially intended for handling articles having a greater diameter at the base than at the top, such as necked bottles or containers; the screw thread pitch increases in the downward direction by a value lower than the height of said articles up to a value greater than their height. With the arrangement of this invention the initially stacked articles are separated from one another in a gradually increasing manner by the screw-thread proper, without resorting, at the conduit inlet, to means separate from said screw for creating between the stacked articles a gap permitting the engagement of the first thread of said screw.

The variable pitch screw may be driven from a motor. During each screw revolution one article is released, so that the rate of release of the articles on the conveyor is a linear function of the screw rotational speed. Under these conditions and in this case the apparatus provides a solution to the first two problems mentioned hereinabove.

As an alternative, the screw may be caused to rotate by the weight of the articles accumulated above the ap- BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic front view, partly elevational and partly sectional;

FIG. 2 is a similar side elevational view of the apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along the line Ill-III of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The apparatus'comprises a vertical distributing conduit l'consisting for example of a metal or plastic cylindrical tube having dimensions selected to ensure a proper guiding of the articles to be dispensed. The pile of articles 2 is formed from above the apparatus to which they are supplied for example by a pneumatic conveyor (not shown) disposed upstream of the apparatus.

A window 3 extending between two rectilinear generatrices 4, 5 is formed in the conduit 1. The screw 6 having its shaft 7 parallel to the conduit 1 is so disposed that the outer edge 9 of its thread moves very close to said generatrices 4,5 during the screw rotation, whereby the thread projects into the conduit 1 through said window 3.

The pitch h of the upper turn 10 of screw 6 is smaller than the height hl of the article 2 to be dispensed, as explained hereinafter. The pitch H of the lower turn 11 is considerably longer than the height hl of the article 2. The screw 6 is driven from a motor 12 at a properly selected speed.

In the case contemplated herein the articles 2 consist of bottles having a neck portion of a diameter considerably smaller than the base diameter so that when these bottles are stacked and supported by one another in the conduit 1 with the necks at'the upper end of the articles it is possible to introduce a member, i.e. the upper outer edge 13 of the screw thread, into the space thus left under each bottle base, without causing this edge to contact the neck of the next underlying bottle.

The apparatus operates as follows:

The articles 2a, 2b are disposed above the screw 6 and article 2c engages this screw by having its bottom supported by the outer edge of the upper turn 10 of screw 6. Since the height hl of this bottle 20 is slightly greater than the pitch h of the upper turn 10 of said screw, the top of its neck lies above the upper level of the screw and supports the next bottle 2b. During the screw rotation the upper end 13 of upper turn 10 is caused to engage the bottom or base of bottle 2b from underneath, thus preventing this bottle from continuing its downward travel while the preceding bottle 20, in contrast thereto, keeps moving towards the lower end of conduit 1. To sum up, the thread of screw 6 is inserted between two adjacent bottles 2b and 2c.

The bottle 2c travels at a gradually increasing speed, since the pitch H of the lower turn 11 of screw 6 is greater than the pitch h of upper turn 10.

When the bottom of the bottle 20 attains the level of the lower end 14 of turn 1 1, this bottle is released very close to conveyor 15 and therefore deposited on this conveyor. As the pitch H of the lower turn is greater than the height hl of these bottles, a twofold advantage is derived from this arrangement: firstly, the bottle can separated by the screw 6, and secondly when the bottle is laid down on the conveyor 15 the bottle is not discharged instantaneously from the volume swept by the screw. However, the time necessary for this discharge is amply available for the bottle, for since the pitch H is considerably greater than the height hl of each bottle, the distance between the thread and the bottle neck is sufficient to provide ample time for discharging the bottle from the conduit. lf, as a first approximation, the pitch is twice the bottle height, the time allowed for the bottle to clear said zone is half the time required for the screw 6 to perform a complete revolution.

Of course, the conduit 1 comprises at its lower portion a wider aperture 16 permitting the free transfer of the articles 2 to the underlying conveyor 15.

In a modified form of embodiment (not shown), the motor 2 is dispensed with and the screw 6 can revolve freely about its axis. The screw is caused to rotate by the weight of the pile of articles 2. Thus, the higher the rate of delivery of these articles to the apparatus, the higher their weight and the higher thejscrew speed. Under these conditions, the rate of delivery of these articles to the conveyor 15 is proportional to the supply.

The operating characteristic of the apparatus may be adjusted, if necessary, by using either a very small auxiliary motor (directing for example a driving air jet against a suitable blading) or a friction brake.

Finally, an essential requirement is that an article constantly bears with its bottom on the first turn of the screw thread so that the upper end of this article emerges somewhat above the level of the upper edge 13 of said turn to preserve a proper relative spacing of the successive articles, otherwise an article might become wedged by said edge 13.

Of course, the forms of embodiment described hereinabove with reference to the attached drawing are given by way of illustration only and should not be construed as limiting the invention, since many modifications and variations may be brought thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An apparatus for laying down separately on a conveyor a series of articles of predetermined height, having a greater diameter at the top than at the base, which comprises a descending conduit for guiding a plurality of stacked articles towards said conveyor, said conduit comprising a lateral aperture extending along one side thereof, a screw mounted externally of said conduit and adapted to revolve about an axis parallel to said conduit, said screw having a thread projecting through said lateral aperture, the pitch of said screw thread increasing in the downward direction from a value inferior to the predetermined height of said articles to a value greater than said height, whereby the screw thread is adapted, during the screw rotation, to separate the lower article of the pile from the other articles guided in said conduit, and to eventually lay down said articles so ar tel on said conve r.

E. in zi pparatus as sefforth 1n claim 1, wherein said 

1. An apparatus for laying down separately on a conveyor a series of articles of predetermined height, having a greater diameter at the top than at the base, which comprises a descending conduit for guiding a plurality of stacked articles towards said conveyor, said conduit comprising a lateral aperture extending along one side thereof, a screw mounted externally of said conduit and adapted to revolve about an axis parallel to said conduit, said screw having a thread projecting through said lateral aperture, the pitch of said screw thread increasing in the downward direction from a value inferior to the predetermined height of said articles to a value greater than said height, whereby the screw thread is adapted, during the screw rotation, to separate the lower article of the pile from the other articles guided in said conduit, and to eventually lay down said articles separately on said conveyor.
 2. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said screw thread comprises only an upper turn of a pitch inferior to the predetermined article height, and a lower turn having a pitch greater than said height.
 3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said screw is driven from a motor at a speed proportional to that of said conveyor according to the desired delivery rate. 